Firefighters, EMS and National Guard troops team-up for first time ever to train at full-scale exercise

The New York City Fire Department and the New York National Guard’s Civil Support Team (CST) along with their elite Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) will hold a full-scale joint training exercise tomorrow at the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island.

Operation Civil Support is a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) training exercise designed to help prepare both members of the FDNY and the New York National Guard in the event of a multi-trauma incident in New York City. The training is all based on real-life events that have occurred world wide; the intent of the exercise is to test and evaluate the FDNY’s core competencies – consisting of fire and life safety, along with the challenge of integrating the National Guard.

The operation will consist of more than 500 FDNY members and National Guard troops who are equipped to provide emergency responders with additional support with various tactical rescue situations, ranging from search and rescue, casualty extraction, high-angle rescue, collapse/confined space rescue, assessment, decontamination and medical triage. The size of the drill and the training is the first of its kind between the FDNY and the National Guard.